The whole point of the iPad is that it is portable. This is a tablet that is designed to come with you wherever you go, be it on holiday or visiting grandparents.

Having a few travel apps handy can make an important difference to a day out, giving you background information on places to explore, getting you there in the first place and help should something go wrong. Pocket-lint has put together a list of the must-have travel apps to take with you on your iPad.

Tom Tom UK and Ireland

The TomTom iPad app is fairly fantastic. The app has been optimised to fit every pixel of the iPad's screen and, by doing so, the TomTom app has gone from a slightly fiddly little brother to the dedicated satnav, to a vastly superior visuo-interactive experience.

What you benefit from on the iPad is the superb size and sensitivity of the touchscreen, the like of which satnavs have been failing to ape for years. What that real estate now means is that there's space to split the screen with window views within. You don't have to surf the menus and experience the advanced lane guidance view as a screen switch but can see it alongside the route map.

GPS Navigation 2 - SatNav by Skobbler

Not everyone wants to pay the price of some of the more full featured GPS apps on the app store. Some simply want an app that will get them from A to B. Skobbler is most definitely one of them. Originally a very buggy but completely free application, it has returned in a much-improved £1.49 form.

Skobbler will now get you around with voice directions for the whole of the UK and Republic of Ireland. The application can route pedestrian directions as well as cars. There is even local search and if you are so inclined, the option to use Wallace and Gromit voices. It's the price that really matters though, and this is easily one of the best-value applications.

Hotels.com HD

There are a bagillion apps out there that will let you see hotel availability, reviews, prices and booking options but the pleasing thing about the Hotels.com iPad app is that it puts all these features together in a nicely wrapped package complete with a shiny UI. As a travel industry insider put it, quite simply, it's the best.

It's a straightforward, graphically pleasing and oh-so-smooth affair. Type in your wants and needs and the app will bring up a host of results in grid or map form which you can then filter them by star rating, price-band or guest ratings. On top of that, you get info on amenities, maps, photos, price breakdowns and descriptions – but also reviews from the Hotels.com community too. Happy travels. Read more

Ebookers Explorer

Unlike the kind of run-of -the-mill app version of a eShopping web site, Ebookers has gone a different way with Explorer. More than just a tailor-made version of the same thing, the idea here is to present a magazine-type experience for users to browse, then select their next holiday destination.

This works with the app pulling in free user-generated content from around the web on specific locations and repackaging them in a way that we've seen look great on tablets since Flipboard came along. The app grabs video from YouTube, photos from Flickr, tweets from Twitter and blogs from Google and ties them all together along with, of course, the mandatory Ebookers page where you can find yourself a hotel in which to stay when you go. Read More

ForeverMap

ForeverMap is a simple concept but an important one. Rather than being just a gateway to a bunch of maps stored on an internet server, it allows you to download complete cartographic data to your handset to access without the need of any kind of connection. The downside is that it takes up what can be a precious amount of storage space on your phone, but ForeverMap gets around this by allowing the user the choice of which city or country maps to download individually.

ForeverMap works well and will keep you covered all over the UK and the rest of Europe. Certainly handy for holidays. Read More

Google Earth

The latest iteration of Google Earth lets you explore underwater landscapes on your iDevice, adding bathymetry and ocean layer content to the mix. The app lets you dive below the surface of the ocean (not literally, you understand), where you can explore underwater canyons. To look around, you just swipe the screen with two fingers or you can reset the view by clicking the north arrow.

As well as all the new sub-aqua malarkey, you can do all the usual stuff that Google Earth lets you do - such as view Wikipedia articles. A great app for reference, or just for fun and best of all, it's free. Read More

mPassport

When abroad it's usually sod's law that one member of your family or friends will get ill. You can pretty much guarantee the result will be a worrying trip to a hospital or dodgy doctors with little idea of what sort of treatment you are getting.

mPassport fixes this by creating local data for trusted doctors, pharmacies and dentists. It even lets you create appointments with them within the application and provides local map data and directions.

Cool Places Travel Guides

Designed as a simple travel guide for various UK towns and cities, these are fully featured applications that list the best of any destination to which you might be heading. Take the Oxford one, for example: it will show you lists of sights, restaurants and shopping locations, give background information on each and directions to get you there.

It's the quality that really matters in travel apps and with Cool Places, the decent pictures and sharp writing are enough enticement to go exploring. The focus is on seeing and doing "cool stuff" so that you can line up different things to do throughout the day. Worth a download prior to wherever you plan on visiting.